Bringing The Buddha Home

 By: ryan    4:47 PM  Buddhism, Dear Diary   No comments

Saturday, 31 July 2010 was a very special day for me. This very day, I received precious gifts from my friend. He gave me something which are so precious and holy that me myself can't believe I can have it and even hold them with my bare hand. It is the Buddha Shakyamuni's relics. My friend obtained the relics from a bikkhu long time ago. Since he has a better faith in Christianity, he gave way all his Buddhist's stuff such as Dharma books, mala (beads for prayers) and the relics of the Buddha too. How bless I am.

(Relics are encased in the middle part of the glass stupa while the bottom red part are dried saffron's flowers)

So What Are Relics?

Buddha relics are holy precious with over 2,500 years of history. They are not only sacred heritage of Buddhism but also very precious to Buddhist. Buddha relics represent Buddha's Dharmakaya body. Similarly, paying respect to the relics are symbolic of paying respects to Buddha Shakyamuni. The Mahaparamita has mentioned: "To be with the Buddha relics is equivalent to being with the Buddha. Relics have no life but they manifest and expand in number and size respectively. It was told that, Buddha Shakyamuni funeral pyre ignited by itself. When the pyre was completely burned, only the bones and relics of the Buddha were left. It's said that thousands pieces of relics are transformed into billions in number today.  

These diamond-like indestructible relics signify the perpetual existence of Dharmakaya in this world is impermanence. As a result, paying respect to the Buddha relics helps to purify one's body and mind. 

The Buddha's relics are considered to show people that enlightenment is possible, to remind them that the Buddha was a real person, and to also promote good virtue. Real Buddha relics cannot be bough and are normally received from Bhikkhus who have got them directly from a certain lineage. 

So What Category The Relics Belong To? 

Many years ago, there was this "Collection of the Lord Shakyamuni Buddha and His Great Disciples" Relics Exhibition held in The Mines and from there I obtain this book by His Holiness the 6th Jamseng Rinpoche. The book shows various relics from each part of Buddha such as The Buddha's tooth, brain, bones and blood. Then I learned that the relics which I got are belongs to the Buddha's blood category.

 (An image from the book, "The Buddha and His Principal Disciples' Relics")

Some of you must have doubt on why on earth Buddha relics are so easy to get. Seriously I don't know how to answer to this question. Maybe because of fate or some good affinity with the Buddha, I guess. But then, if you were to ask me how sure am I that what I have obtain is it real or false relics or some crystal that carved out of some stones? Well, neither I can answer you this question too..... But I am sure that this is relics as the picture shown below, the relics has manifest into those smaller one, crystal can't manifest right? (or maybe can, I don't know). 

(The relics which I got from my friend. See the tiny little one that protruding out from the bigger one) 

So dear readers, either you believe it or not or you may have doubts on it, to me I still believe what I believed as what it is. I am not trying to be ignorant or arrogant on what I had said here. Moreover relics are still relics even though they are precious as Buddha said, "Nothing is permanent". It doesn't mean that since I have the Buddha's relics, good luck, wealth, and opportunities pouring in my way. By having the good fate on receiving or keeping relics only means that it will definitely brings further motivations and greater faith in Buddhism in me, and peoples around the relics. The reason I post this up so that (if these are really relics), I sincerely wish all of you who saw the pictures of the relics could accumulate good merits and enjoy the blissful blessings from the Buddha. The most important is what we did or believes in will brings benefits to us and others.